Tuesday’s historic peace ceremony at the White House between Israel and the United Arab Emirates went off the rails for a few cringeworthy moments when an Israeli news anchor attempted to “make peace” on live Emirati TV and failed miserably, in a clip that has since gone viral.
Channel 12’s Dana Weiss approached UAE anchor, Hamed Ruaab, while both were on live broadcast. Weiss told the Channel 12 studio anchor, Yonit Levy, “I’m going to make peace on live TV.”
Turning to Ruaab, the left-wing Weiss said: “Excuse me, sir, can I bother you? We’re trying to broker peace. I wanted to congratulate you, we’re here too.” Weiss told the Emirati journalist.
Back at the studio in Israel, Levy also seemed taken aback by Weiss’ bizarre move, saying: “We are only signing with them today, maybe we will wait a day or two until we interrupt them on the broadcast.”
She then joked: “Well, I guess they’ll learn what kind of people we are.” Israelis have a reputation for making their presence known.
Weiss continued to badger Ruaab who was trying to conduct his own interviews via satellite conference and told her, “We’re on air.” Weiss said, “Yes, I know, we are too.” and later added, “Can we be photographed together?”
Ruaab answered firmly, “Not now ” and Weiss finally got the hint, backing down and saying, “He is very determined.”
The episode was quickly picked up by all major outlets in Israel and secured the top spot for trending items on Twitter. Many Israelis were mortified by the exchange, with social media users lambasting Weiss for being “an embarrassment to the country.”
Weiss on Wednesday attempted to defend herself, saying, “I thought it would make a nice segment, I know if they approached me in the middle of a broadcast I would be happy and make it a celebration. It didn’t go as planned but OK.”
It wasn’t the first interruption of the evening on Weiss’ part. Earlier, Gili Cohen, the anchor for KAN public broadcaster, caught up with mogul Haim Saban and had barely managed to get out two questions before Weiss barged in and took over.
Weiss said she later apologized to Ruaab over the incident and the two were captured bumping elbows.
Ruaab took to Twitter on Wednesday and posted: “Being on the air is normal, but when someone asks to meet you while you’re on the air – that’s just strange.”
Several Israelis apologized to Ruaab on Weiss’ behalf, with many crediting Ruaab for remaining professional.
Weiss has made headlines in the past in an exchange of barbs with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son, Yair Netanyahu. She was filmed calling him “a little shit” — for which she later apologized — and in July, the younger Netanyahu issued an apology for inferring she slept her way to the job.
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